


hello, i'm ken

by getcool (avatarstates)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Awkward Tension, Cafes, Canon Compliant, Humor, M/M, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 02:17:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16986249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avatarstates/pseuds/getcool
Summary: "There, there. If you want, I could ask for his number.""You knew about him working here, didn't you?"when Semi Eita agrees to have lunch with his roommate at a cafe, he doesn't expect three things:1) The cafe is a themed cafe,2) His crush works there,3) His crush looks really good in fox ears and a tail.





	hello, i'm ken

**Author's Note:**

> this is dedicated to selma, the angel of my life, whom i adore the most! i hope you'll love reading this as much as i enjoyed writing this for you 😌💖
> 
> the one-shot is inspired by [this fanart](https://twitter.com/terimilkJJ/status/1072107338562134016) by [terimilkJJ](https://twitter.com/terimilkJJ) from twitter!

“Tendou, do I look like I’m free at the moment?” asks Semi in annoyance as he does his best to ignore his roommate’s puppy-dog eyes. The noise of his pencil lead scratching on the paper as he scribbles equations fill the silence. “I’ve got a test this Monday and I absolutely can’t flunk it.”

Tendou does not give up in his endeavors, instead scoots his swivel chair closer to Semi to the point that he’s at risk of suffering a broken neck for breaching Semi’s personal space. His expression remains the same, wide pleading eyes and what he hopes is a cute pout. “But you always have a test,” he points out with an undertone, “and you’re not even in the college track.”

“Well, unlike you, my teacher is a fucking she-demon who thinks she can whip us all into shape.”

“This is so sad. Say F to pay your respects. F,” Tendou sighs though he doesn’t sound sympathetic for Semi’s case. Arms flopping over the back of his chair, he exhales loudly and spins around in it. It ticks Semi off but he forces his mind to go back to working on finding a solution for the math question he’s working on. “How bad are you?”

“Dismal,” Semi answers.

Tendou narrows his eyes then frowns. “Maybe you’re just stressed and it’s getting into your head.” If there’s anything anyone should’ve warned Semi about before he made friends with this lanky redhead here, they should mention that he’s the most persistent person on earth. Semi knows this conversation would end with him caving in to Tendou, as it always does, but he just wants to win once. So he grits his teeth and fills his mind with all sorts of horrendous scenarios that could happen should he fail his test on Monday.

“Stress makes you focus less.” Suddenly, Tendou’s voice is in his ear, whispering, and Semi almost jumps out of his chair in fright. He shoots Tendou an angry look but his friend continues whispering obnoxiously. “I’m only looking out for you. You should relax.”

“No.”

“With me.”

“No way.”

“We could grab some lunch at that new café two blocks away.”

Semi hesitates and then a little warning bell goes off in his head. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, he points at Tendou and says, “Are you trying to sway me with food?”

The look on Tendou’s face doesn’t waver but Semi catches the left corner of his mouth twitch. “Is it working?” he asks brazenly. 

A long-suffering sigh escapes from Semi. He glances at his chicken scratch writing to the clock on the wall. Perhaps his victory should be secured another day. For now, lunch sounds good.

 

* * *

 

Semi doesn’t know how Tendou found out about this café, considering it was tucked in the middle of a narrow alleyway that faced the street. Okay, it wasn’t a bad alleyway; it was clean and didn’t stink of rat piss but there aren’t many shops here. As he looks at the art on the graffiti-covered walls, Tendou goes on about how the café is actually a themed-café.

“No wonder you’re so excited about it,” says Semi but he hopes the menu isn’t as pricey as the ones Tendou dragged him to visit when they were in the city.

Somehow, Tendou guesses what he’s thinking because he says, “I came here last week with Reon. The food and drinks are priced reasonably but they taste really good!”

“Is that so?”

“Mhm!”

They come to a stop at the café’s front door, the only sign of its existence being a sandwich board advertising today’s specials propped beside the entrance.There isn’t a window they can peer into so Semi can’t guess what its theme is. Before he can deduce by judging the sandwich board, Tendou pulls him inside. 

A pleasant tinkling from a bell by the door announces their arrival. There’s the delicious smell of freshly baked goods and brewing coffee in the air. Indie music plays softly overhead, intermingling with the sound of percolating coffee machines. The interior is tastefully designed, with a simple but effortlessly elegant feel to it. There are a few customers present in the establishment, enjoying their meals or their desserts. 

A cute employee who was standing by the door greets them cheerily and leads them to an empty table near the corner. “Please have a look at our menu,” she says as she hands them each a copy. “My colleague will be with you shortly.”

“Thank you,” both Tendou and Semi say before she attends to another table.

Once she’s out of earshot, Semi turns to Tendou with an incredulous look on his face. “Seriously?” he demands, eyebrows arched. “A high-school themed café?”

“Look, it’s not _just_ a high-school café,” says Tendou defensively and earns Semi’s glare. “Didn’t you notice the cute fluffy ears she has and the tail? It’s a hybrid high-school café.” Tendou sounds as though he’s proposed a groundbreaking idea but all Semi can think of is _What a fucking furry_. 

“I can’t believe Reon agreed to visit here with you.”

“Oh, you give me too much credit!” chuckled Tendou, pretending to be flustered.

“I can’t believe Reon is a furry,” muttered Semi, somewhat distressed by his newfound discovery. Before he thinks twice about whether he wants to know how Reon found out about this place, their waiter arrives.

“Hello, I’m Ken, the kitsune, and I’ll be— “

The abrupt end in Ken’s midsentence causes Tendou and Semi to look at their waiter. Amusement breaks out in the form of a smirk on Tendou’s face whereas shock appears as Semi’s eyes almost popping out of their sockets the moment they recognize who their waiter is. 

“S-Shirabu?” whispers Semi, withering back when Shirabu scowls in his direction. The sight of his teammate dressed in a typical high-school boy’s uniform, fox ears and a tail is enough to shake every opinion of his about Shirabu violently. It doesn’t help that he has a massive crush on Shirabu either. Semi can’t seem to shut his mouth, nor utter any more words, while his junior continues staring at him in distaste.

Tendou looks on between Semi and Shirabu, a stupid and goofy grin on his face. “Well,” he drawls, breaking into the silence, “this is a _pleasant_ surprise.” Semi almost wants to kill him, almost, because he has absolutely no right to tease him like this. Perhaps this is that so-called instant karma for calling Tendou and Reon furries.

“Oh, it is pleasant _indeed_ ,” replies Shirabu, voice dripping with sarcasm. The girl who greeted them earlier clears her throat, probably to remind Shirabu that he’s supposed to act professionally. He sighs and then adopts a bewitching smile that causes Semi’s throat to close up. “Have you decided what you’d like to order?”

“Absolutely!” Tendou rattles off a few things off the menu while Semi stares, at Shirabu specifically. “What are you having?” Tendou asks and then has to kick Semi from under the table because he doesn’t respond. 

Semi flinches—he catches Shirabu rolling his eyes—and flips through the menu. There’s a bunch of delicious food that are presented in a cute way but Semi can’t, for some reason, focus on what they are so he mentions the first thing that comes to mind and prays that it’s on the menu. “I-I’ll have an omelette rice,” he barely manages to choke out.

“Coming right up!” Shirabu chirps in the most un-Shirabu-like manner. Semi watches as he places their order with the kitchen. It hurts so much how attractive he looks in that costume and that persona that Semi has to put his head down and close his eyes. His head is spinning and he’s on the verge of running outside to scream.

Tendou leans closer, smiling devilishly at the back of Semi’s head. “There, there,” he coos with mock sympathy, “If you want, I could ask for his number.”

“I hope you’ll have shitty wifi for the rest of your life.” Semi’s voice comes out muffled. He raises his head, eyebrows scrunched together. “You knew about him working here, didn’t you?”

“Again, you give me too much credit." 

“Does Reon know?”

“I don’t think so.” Tendou plucks a strand of hair from Semi, examining the ash blonde strand before dropping it to the floor. The corners of his lips curl into a cheeky grin. “At least Shirabu’s not only serving lunch but looks too!" 

Semi sits up abruptly. His face is blank but his cheeks are still dusted with a light pink color. “Excuse me while I panic in the restroom.” He hears Tendou respond but doesn’t catch his words. Semi keeps his eyes to the floor as he hurries to the back where the restroom is; he doesn’t think he can handle looking at Shirabu, especially not when he’s about to have a fucking heart attack over how good his crush looks.

After locking the door behind him, he splashes cold water on his face in efforts to dull the blush on his face. At his dripping face in the mirror, he slaps his cheeks and tell himself, “Keep it together!” It works, for about two seconds, when he remembers the persona Shirabu adopts and watches in horror as he flushes again.

When he emerges from the restroom, having accepted that he won’t be calming himself down any time soon, he sees Shirabu serving their food and drinks. His body tenses before his mind can catch up and then Shirabu turns. A millisecond passes between them when Shirabu smiles that fucking suave smile. Semi almost melts there but his half-baked mind reminds him his food has arrived at the table.

Robotically, he walks over to sit and Shirabu asks him what type of ketchup design he’d like on his omelette rice. “It’s up to you,” he answers faintly. In the end, Shirabu draws his face on the omelette rice, which is kind of nice and confusing, before leaving them to their own device.

Though Tendou stopped making fun of him already, Semi can sense him making all sorts of god-awful comments about his feelings for Shirabu. After they’ve paid for their meal and left the café, Semi mutters under his breath “I’ll never look at him the same way again.”

“You mean in ‘Wow he’s so cute but now I think he’s pretty hot’ way or ‘I wanna bone him so bad’ way?”

“Tendou, do me a favor and shut up.”

“No way,” Tendou sings and Semi shoves him into a puddle.

 

* * *

 

When Monday arrives, the one thing Semi dreads more than his math test is seeing Shirabu. Though it’s inevitable, he goes out of his way to stall fate—at least until volleyball practice this afternoon. He doesn’t leave class unless he really needs to. He uses the least frequented corridors to get to the bathroom. He doesn’t even go to the cafeteria for lunch. His friends are quick to point out that he’s not acting himself but he makes some unconvincing excuse and barely escapes them.

When it’s time for volleyball practice, he puts an unnecessary amount of distance between himself and Shirabu. He hopes no one notices but of course his teammates do, only they don’t mention it. By the end of practice, he’s given an earful by the coach before being dismissed. It doesn’t upset him much, to his surprise, since today he fears being alone with Shirabu than his coach chewing him up for a couple of mistkes.

Unfortunately, his temporary fear comes true.

He finds no one in the locker room, except for the person he was avoiding for the whole day. Shirabu’s toweling his damp hair off, his back facing Semi when he enters. Even though the younger boy can see Semi from the mirror on his locker door, his gaze doesn’t flicker over to glimpse. For that Semi is grateful that Shirabu’s back to being his cold and aloof self but at the same time there’s a tiny sting in his chest from Shirabu ignoring him.

While in the shower, Semi realizes he’d been hoping for some explanation, despite it being a complete no-brainer—seriously, it’s not weird that Shirabu has a part-time job. A low groan escapes from his throat as he scrubs furiously away at his hair as though the action itself could rid his not-so-pure thoughts of Shirabu. When he steps from the shower, hair still dripping, he almost gives a start to find his junior waiting for him by the lockers.

“Took you long enough,” snaps Shirabu before Semi can even breathe. “Honestly, I thought it was girls who take the longest in showers but you sure took your time in there.”

Semi isn’t sure if he should take his chances and run, with a towel still wrapped around his waist, or if he should just take this encounter as something he should face today. He takes a step forward then hesitates. “W-were you waiting for me?” He’s not usually this bad at articulating but the shock from two days ago hasn’t worn off.

Shirabu crosses his arms haughtily. “Absolutely not. Please don’t flatter yourself.” Semi wants to point out that he was the one who said Semi took so long to shower but refrained himself. “Anyway,” Shirabu says, “I’m here to let you know that if you breathe so much as a word that I’m working at that café, I won’t hesitate to murder you.” It isn’t threatening because his voice waver slightly at the end.

Semi blinks. “Okay.”

Shirabu relaxes visibly. “Good.” He looks to the floor.

“Do you not enjoy working there?” Semi ventures when he found his ability to speak again.

“I do.” Shirabu raises his head. “It’s just … it’s weird to see people I know in the café and having to serve them. I mean I have to act the part because it’s my job but I’m just scared that you and Tendou might say something about me.” Something fetches in Semi’s chest hearing Shirabu talk like that; he’s never heard Shirabu sound so … self-conscious. It’s kind of weird because he looked like the type of person who was always confident in himself and never gave two cents about people’s opinion of him.

Semi hesitates. “Like what? What do you think we’d say?”

Shirabu shrugs and he’s back to making eye contact with the floor again. “Stupid stuff, I guess.”

“We’re the last people on Earth who’d judge, just so you know.”

“ _Thanks_.” Shirabu’s back to being sarcastic.

Semi regards him. He thinks about the way Shirabu's work persona and tries to imagine him acting like that every day. He’s certain his heart will not be able to take it but at the same time he’s grateful Shirabu doesn’t act like that. He likes his Shirabu just the way he is, even though he nearly suffered a cardiac arrest when Shirabu switched on his charm as Ken the Kitsune.

“Why are you smiling like that?” demanded Shirabu.

Semi gives a start then shakes his head. “Your secret’s safe with me,” he says in mock seriousness.

Shirabu scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Yeah, if you say so.”

“Also, you looked … kinda hot in that — “

“This conversation is over,” announces Shirabu abruptly although his cheeks have gone a lovely shade of red. “Have a good evening, Eita-senpai.” With that, he spins on his heel and leaves.

It takes a few moments after he’s left before Semi realizes just how flustered Shirabu was.

Shirabu never calls him Eita-senpai and Semi isn’t sure what to do with this epiphany other than to have a little gay panic over it and tell Tendou all about it when he gets back to his dorm.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are always appreciated so feel free to leave some! i'll do my best to reply to everyone :)  
> thank you so much for reading and i hope you'll have a lovely day!
> 
> [[ twitter ]](https://twitter.com/azunshi)   
>  [[ tumblr ]](https://avatarclub.tumblr.com)


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